HARTFORD (Reuters) - The lawyer who took Detroit, Michigan, through the largest Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history brought his message to a new crowd on Thursday: residents of Hartford, Connecticut’s cash-strapped capital city.

Kevyn Orr, a partner the law firm Jones Day, and a panel of experts tried to fend off residents’ fears about whether city service might be cut (no), taxes might rise (maybe) or people might later get priced out of homes (it is complicated) if the city files for a court debt restructuring.

“Nobody wants to enter bankruptcy. I’m sort of like an undertaker that shows up at the door,” Orr told attendees at a usactHartford Public High School evening event.

But it is a long-term tool that helped both Detroit and Central Falls, Rhode Island, whose mayor was also on the panel, improve in the long run, Orr said.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin has said for months that the capital city of one of the wealthiest states may have to file for bankruptcy.

It is facing a $50 million budget gap as it waits for aid from the state budget, now over three months late.

Moody’s Investors Service said earlier Thursday that Hartford will likely default as early as November and projected operating deficits of up to $80 million annually for nearly the next 20 years.

“Moody’s report highlights... why we have talked so transparently about the need for structural change,” Bronin said in a statement.

Hartford’s next debt payment is a big one - about $20 million - due Oct. 31, and “we do expect to pay it,” said Bronin’s assistant Vasishth Srivastava.

Plenty of U.S. cities have improved their finances without bankruptcy, including Atlantic City in New Jersey and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.